Pat Rafter takes on role of Tennis Australia's director of team performance

Is Pat Rafter excited to be Tennis Australia's new director of performance? That would not be his word. Positive? Yes. Keen and engaged? Absolutely. Cautiously uncertain about what may lie ahead and thinking he may possibly need a hand at times? That, too.

"I'm excited when my wife rings me up and says 'we've got the whole cinema to ourselves, I've booked it out for our wedding anniversary and I've got a Slurpee and a bag of Maltesers for you'. That makes me excited," Rafter quips.

"This, I look at as a really good challenge, and I look forward to working with these guys and seeing if I can blend into the team environment, and I hope I can."

Team Rafter, or at least Mrs R - Lara - apparently lost patience some time ago with the former world No.1-turned-underwear-model-and-hotel-ambassador becoming a self-described homebody-turned-couch-potato; one happy with a hands-on role raising the kids in their idyllic beachfront Sunshine Coast surrounds, playing golf and surfing in his abundant spare time, taking almost eight years away from the tennis coalface between retirement and his late-2010 appointment as Davis Cup captain.

Even then, five years ago, Rafter admits he would never have imagined he would transform from the man who was happy doing not-terribly-much to the man who, in terms of Australia's on-court tennis fortunes, is now overseeing all of it. Big job. Really big job.

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"No. I was too selfish," Rafter says. "I was too into myself and having my family - I just wanted to do my family thing. But after sitting around for a while, my wife's sort of going 'Pat, what are you doing? Will you go get a job?'

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"So we had that transition into Davis Cup and now this has sort of been a natural progression. I guess it has turned into a bit of a job. I can't be around all the time, and it's not a good reflection for my kids, either. They can't be seeing dad's a bum, dad's a bum."

He was never that, of course, and the 1997-98 US Open champion remains active on the lucrative seniors tour, played in the Australian Open main draw doubles with his certain Davis Cup successor Lleyton Hewitt as recently as January, and will debut with Nick Kyrgios, Serena Williams et al for the Singapore Slingers in the inaugural IPTL in Asia this month.

But before that, and after, he is delving deeper into the sometimes curious world of Australian tennis, where the men are finally threatening great things again but the women's game - aside from top-30 veterans Sam Stosur and Casey Dellacqua - lacks the same depth and promise.

For Rafter, early insight into the demands of the new position he will officially start on February 1 came after his Davis Cup role was expanded to fill the high-performance void created by Craig Tiley's elevation to chief executive 15 months ago. But there is much to learn during what is a bold leap into the slightly unknown.

"It probably is, but with the Davis Cup you cover a fair bit and particularly over the last year I've made myself sort of look into how it's all running anyway, and what's happening, and who's doing what, and it is a massive role.

"The one thing that is very important for me to have in place is really good support people around me, and if we can achieve that - like I have had in Davis Cup - I think the role will be fine, and it should be doable for me."

A reluctance to travel extensively has been an issue since his retirement, but with son Josh now 12 and daughter India, 9, that is less of a barrier - if still not ideal.

What is his motivation, then, to disrupt what seems like a very comfortable existence? " I think you always want to feel like you put back into the game, and Australia, gee, it's been great for me, and I feel like I owe tennis in Australia something," says Rafter.

"And also, on a selfish note, it's a great learning experience for me. I've got a great opportunity now to take on a pretty big role and I'm going to learn a lot about myself and whether I'm good enough to do this."

As to what he brings to the job, Rafter suggests we ask others. "I guess I've got a few areas that I'd like to sort of see changed, but I've got to try and get the lie of the land first.

"I'm pretty keen on developing kids emotionally as well as their game. I think we owe it to all these kids to be really rounded kids as well, not just with their tennis, but academically and socially. I've got to see how that fits in with the whole program as well. These are fanciful ideas and I've got to see if I can transition that into the academy."

Otherwise, he is pleased that the results of the past seven or eight years of development are becoming apparent, while stressing that his own tenure cannot be expected to produce instant success. Still, there are obvious ambitions. "You always want to feel like you're going to produce the next top-10 player, the next No.1, the next grand slam winners and the next Davis Cup winners, so I guess they're the ultimate goals."

There are five Australian men in the top 100, and a further seven inside 200, or just below. Rafter is understandably enthusiastic about the prospects of "great talents" Kyrgios and fellow teen Thanasi Kokkinakis, even if he had no personal experience with the early-fame-game the young stars of today are now playing.

"Talk about young kids making it big and having all that exposure at such a young age, and I can never relate to that - I had it when I was a bit older. So I think they're doing pretty well."

And Australian tennis in general? "It's got big potential, that's the way I like to see it," says Rafter, who wants to help push the emerging crop inside the top 30, and higher, while harking back to the mid-90s when he was one of the dozen countrymen ranked in double figures, all pushing each other to better things.

"So the next couple of years I hope that we can transition some of those guys into the top 10. I'm pretty big, also, on attitude, on respect, and I want to try and get that part going in the right direction."

Clearly, Rafter's own has changed, and the family's plan to relocate to Sydney may now divert to Melbourne for what the 41-year-old admits is more than just his first real job in a while. "It's the first real job I've ever had! Ever," he laughs. "I don't classify playing tennis as a real job. This is a real job."

And a big one. "I've got a lot to learn in this role," Rafter insists, with typical candour - if not excitement. "I'm not saying I'm the answer for it, but it's worth having a crack at."